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Archive for July 2nd, 2018

By Johan Galtung*

2 Jule 2018 – TRANSCEND Media Service— There are many summit meetings, usually with Trump. Stephen F. Cohen, “Who’s Afraid of a Trump-Putin Summit?“, (The Nation27 Jun 2018): they may serve to assess each other before a war–and to search for peace. But, do they know what that means beyond disarmament and rule of law?

Johan Galtung

“Good chemistry” is not sufficient, nor is it necessary. Peace may come about in spite of, not because of, the summits.

A cease-fire means no fire; actually may mean soldiers resting and arms redeployed.

Summiteers might come further focusing on “how can we be good to each other” than on “how can we stop being bad”. Positive approach.

2 July 2018 — United Nations chief António Guterres visited Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh on Monday 2 July 2018, declaring that “nothing could have prepared me for the scale of the crisis and extent of suffering” he witnessed there.

2 Jul, 2018 (RT)* — The US Air Force has tested the B61-12 nuclear bomb by dropping a dud from a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber over Nevada, as part of an ambitious project to extend the service life of the bomb, introduced in 1968, by another 20 years.

“The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) and the US Air Force completed two non-nuclear system qualification flight tests of the B61-12 gravity bomb on June 9 at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada,”the Department of Energy announcedlast week. “These tests are the first such end-to-end qualification tests on a B-2A Spirit Bomber for the B61-12.”

“My grandparents raised the seven of us. I am the oldest one, so I always help out with my siblings as much as I can, especially my sisters so they don’t have to look to men to support them.

My grandfather was a journalist so I’ve always enjoyed listening to people. I was looking for a scholarship in communications and a university in Bamako offered me one. I cried on my way there not knowing what to expect.

2 July 2018 (EurActiv)* — The idea of “controlled centres” for migrants, put forward in last week’s European Council’s conclusions, is strikingly similar to the 2015 project of “hotspots”. EURACTIV.fr reports.

The EU28 agreement on migration provides for the creation of “controlled centres” in EU member states as a way to speed up the processing of asylum requests and assit countries like Italy cope with the burden of the migration crisis.

The 1951 Refugee Convention is the key legal document that forms the basis of our work. Ratified​ by 145 State parties, it defines the term ‘refugee’ and outlines the rights of the displaced, as well as the legal obligations of States to protect them.*

The core principle is non-refoulement, which asserts that a refugee should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom. This is now considered a rule of customary international law.

UNHCR serves as the ‘guardian’ of the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol. According to the legislation, States are expected to cooperate with us in ensuring that the rights of refugees are respected and protected.

.GENEVA, 29 June 2018 (UNHCR)* – Some 10 million people around the world are today estimated to be stateless, living in a bureaucratic limbo without access to health, education and other government services.

Geneva, 1 July 2018 (IOM)* – This weekend, some 204 migrants have died at sea off Libya, pushing the total number of migrant drownings in the entire Mediterranean so far this year to over 1,000 people.

Rescued migrants being tended to by IOM staff in Tripoli. Photo: IOM

Today (1/07), a small rubber boat packed with migrants capsized off AlKhums, east of Tripoli, with an estimated 41 people surviving after rescue. On Friday (28/06), three babies were among the 103, who died in a shipwreck similar to Sunday’s incident, also caused by smugglers taking migrants to sea in completely unsafe vessels.